The Law: Paying for Schools

Local property taxes are almost universally used in the U.S. to support
public schools. The unsurprising result is that areas with high
property values tend to have more money to spend on education than do
poor areas. First the California Supreme Court and then a number of
other courts found that this disparity was a denial of equal protection
under the law. But last week, in admitted fear of what the principle
would mean for other public services, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that
the current property-tax system does pass constitutional muster.